Strength of a Hero
by IcePhoenix24
Summary: AU:The winter she lost her mother proved to be the coldest one yet and things only got worse from there when her only means of staying out of the foster care system is in the form of her last living relative-an unknown uncle-who just so happens to be a pro hero hero by the name of Edgeshot. Fem!Izuku.
1. From Blood-Soaked Origins Pt1

_**Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia.(Obviously.)**_

_Author's note:__ My first ever story! Thanks so much for taking the time to read it. Just a few things to mention is all._

**_warning(s):_**_ AU. Genderbent Izuku. Mentions of violence/blood/possible gore.(they are fighting villains after all). Swearing._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

_From Blook-Soaked Origins Pt1_

* * *

Suffering.

It showed us the grim reality of change. It reminded us that we are all human. It allowed us to learn and grow as a person, and could even give us the newfound confidence to take on the cruel world ahead of us. It was a concept universally known to the race of men.

Izumi Midoriya, nicknamed 'Deku' by her playground bullies, was barely seven years old when she had learned what true suffering was.

It was a cold winter night in December, the time that was meant for celebration and joy, where she would have all the time in the world to cuddle up in her beloved mother's embrace. Instead, it would be the coldest winter Izumi could ever remember in her entire life. Where the warmth she was so used too was gone.

_She ran, bare-feet leaving a thin trail of red on the freshly fallen snow behind her. The sound of the crackling flames growing more distant with each passing step, ignoring how her lungs burned from inhaled smoke and exhaustion. _

Izumi had barely escaped, running past a blur of freshly splattered crimson, wincing as she sped past the ferocious flames licking at the walls, before collapsing on the ground in a heap away from it all. The rush of adrenaline, the very thing that kept her body moving faded away into the unforgiving winter night; the air chilling her body.

Izumi squeezed her eyes shut, giving out an ugly choked sob when she recalled the memory of her mother as the frost slowly biting her skin. Her mother's long blackish-green hair, her beautiful and kind face, her smile and laughter, _her_ mother. Izumi would never hear her voice again, she would never see that warm radiating smile ever again, she would never feel her warm hug ever again.

Izumi's small frame trembled as she curled in on herself, tight into a little ball, teeth chattering from the frigid winds that struck her face. The falling snow melted in her hair as it simultaneously stung her skin.

Her home was gone, having most likely been consumed by the flame, but she did not need a house to feel warm. No, all she really needed and wanted at this moment, was her mother's everlasting embrace. In Inko's arms, there was no such thing as the bitter cold, only comfort that a mother could give.

Now, now Inko Midoriya was gone, having died in order to protect her worthless Quirkless child. Izumi was left all by her lonesome for her entire life.

Izumi shuddered as her small mind processed the reality of her situation, her body crumpling further into the ground— where was the warmth? She could not remember what such a feeling felt like, and the possibility of life itself crossed her mind.

Alone in the December's wind and snow, she laid on the ground, losing letting her mind wander into the uncaring embrace of darkness and the nightmare that beckoned.

* * *

_Her home was consumed in the vivid sea of reddish yellow, and orange. The strange flickers licking along the once pristine floorboards and walls around her. As if the colorful display was merely playing a child's game, with every vicious pop and crackle signified the burning of another of her beloved possessions, forever lost in the blazing heat. _

_Izumi trembled, ambling further back underneath her bed, hearing strangers' voices draw near. Harsh and unfamiliar, these mysterious voices all but a buzz as the crackles and pops rang throughout the house, but to her innocent and imaginative mind, the voices were eerily similar to what she believed the sound of the monster that hid in the closet would be like._

"_Where is she!? Find her!" one shouted._

"_Come out, come out, wherever you are, little __**brat**__," another hate-filled voice said._

_The sound of metal hitting something made of flesh sent a small terrified whimper out of her trembling lips. Within the madness going on around her, she heard heavy footsteps echoing ever closer toward her room, accompanied by barely-heard heavy and wheezing breaths when they stepped over the threshold of the doorway._

"_Izumi!" an angelic voice called to Izumi. _

_Inko had sprinted into her daughter's room, having come to a rapid stop as she stood in Izumi's bedroom, panic etched onto her face._

"_Oh thank god!" Inko cried as she spotted her daughter's small body peeking out from under the bed._

_Inko's expression untensed for a moment as relief washed over her as their eyes met. Inko dropped a dented frying pan down from her shaky hands in favor of scooping up her terrified child. _

"_Come here, honey" she whispered, voice tinged with fear. Her eyes swept across the room and widened as the flames grew._

_She pulled her daughter closer, pushing herself into a corner in which a wardrobe stood adjacent to the bed. Grabbing the small All Might themed blanket and wrapping it around her daughter, hoping to comfort her, if only a little bit._

"_Mommy…!" Izumi wobbled, as she clutched tighter onto her mother._

_The distant sound of a violent string of curses from down the hall alerted Inko of the danger that neared. The flames were burning hotter all around them, but miraculously ignored the small spot they occupied. _

_Inko's eyes shone with resolve. Without hesitation, she came out of her hiding spot and turned to the wardrobe. She pulled the door open before thrusting her only child into the confined space. She held the entry open for a moment, both mother and child looking into each other's eyes._

"_Stay in here, Izumi. No matter what happens, you mustn't leave till I say so!" Her mother urged, tears glistening in her eyes with a sad but determined look on her face._

_The sound of glass shattering from somewhere in the direction of the living room made both of them flinch._

"_I promise I'll be back. Then we'll find someplace safe, just stay hidden until then. Alright?" Inko's voice was calm. She didn't want to scare her daughter any further, her little girl was already terrified as was._

_Izumi nodded despite the tears running down her cheeks, a thin strand of snot trickled from her nose. She clutched the blanket tighter as fear gripped her heart. Why was this happening? Why was the world around her suddenly coming to a standstill?_

"_I know this is hard, but you must listen to me, understand?" Inko said, before taking a brief moment to pull her daughter into another unyielding hug. "Mommy needs you to be brave right now, alright? Just like All Might. You can do that for me, can't you?"_

_Izumi nodded again. In her naive mind, she believed that if she did as her mother said everything would be alright in the end. That is all Izumi cared for. _

_Inko pulled away with a great deal of reluctance, looking to Izumi's face with a strange mix of agony and grief and seemingly choosing her next words very carefully. "Count to thirty, and if I don't come back, then I want you to run like the wind, get out of the house, and never look back."_

_Izumi felt her world fall apart from underneath her tiny feet. The hastily shut wardrobe shrouded her in darkness, with only the subtle flicker of the flames seeping through the opening between the wardrobe's lids. _

_Izumi did as her mother told and started counting almost immediately, though her voice was shaking as the numbers left her throat._

"_One… t-two…"_

_Izumi could hear her mother taking off from the room, running down the hall. A couple of shouts followed, the voices of her mother and strangers' mixing in the chaos of sound. _

"_Th-Thirteen….F-F-Fourteen," Izumi sobbed as the shouting began to change tone._

_A bloodcurdling scream rocked Izumi to her core, then silence. _

…

_Little Izumi continued counting._

"_Twenty-tw-two...Twen-Twenty-three…"_

* * *

"Hey, kid!" a voice called to Izumi.

Struggling to open her eyes, Izumi wondered when exactly had she fallen asleep?

A stranger was shaking the greenette's shoulders frantically. The warmth of this person's hands was sending sparks throughout Izumi's small body as she felt the smallest bits of fleeting heat re-enter her body.

"Mo...m…?" Izumi rasped.

"Oh my god-... she's bleeding ...medics!...Rumi, get-... on…!"

Voices, one male and another female from what Izumi could tell, faded in and out of her earshot.

"Hey! Hey! Stay with us kid!" a new voice chided.

When she finally garnered enough strength to forcefully open her eyes, Izumi saw the most peculiar of sights. A bird? The person had wings from the looks of it. Was it a Quirk?

"I'm too young to be your mom, just stay awake, okay!?" the male huffed out. He whipped his head around and gave a shout to the odd rabbit-looking person behind him. "Hey, Rumi!"

The voices became warped and distorted, barely even registered by Izumi in her barely-conscious state as a pair of arms scooped her up, shielding her from the elements. Falling into the darkness frightened her, for all the darkness showed were the nightmares.

* * *

Waking up came slowly to her; having been the second time today for such a thing to occur from what she could remember. The first thing she felt was the soreness on her back. Her whole body ached, but it was her throat that hurt the most.

Distantly, she could hear a faint thrum in the air, like a thousand murmuring voices welcoming her home.

The light was blinding in her head.

A ghastly voice pierced the area around her, it sent an odd shiver up her bones. Instinct bid her to open her eyes.

Bright light flooded her sight. Its radiance seared the eyes and forced them closed once more. They were stinging in pain, and the bare skin of her arm could feel the wetness that covered her freckled cheeks. It was likely that she was crying in her sleep, it happened to her before.

"She's awake!" a voice suddenly cried. "Quick, someone go get one of the doctors! Hurry!"

Voices she did not recognize, and in fright, she clenched her eyes more tightly shut. A few precious seconds ticked by before she dared to chance a glance, peeking through the slightest opening of her eyelids and saw concerned faces peering down at her. The light was still blinding overhead as she closed her eyes in addition to other layers of shielding.

Izumi let out a pitiful groan. "Please…." she croaked, her voice weaker and raspier than ever. Her throat was tight and raw, likely from hours of crying. "Please…."

"It's okay," one of the nurses soothed. "You're safe now. The bad people are gone."

"No ...the light….off...too bright… " Izumi coughed.

The same nurse made a soft noise as she heard that.

A moment later, Izumi heard the rustle of clothing, followed shortly by the click of the light switch being turned off. Finally, Izumi removed her arm, squinting and blinking; allowing the last of her tears lingering at the tips of her lashes to fall. She warily took in the unfamiliar surroundings that she now found herself in.

"W-where...am I...?" Izumi whimpered.

Izumi paused and frowned, flashes of her memory filtering through. Her throat was still unbearably dry and throbbing in pain. "Water…" she croaked.

"Right," another of the nurses squeaked, rushing to stand on the other side of Izumi with a pitcher in hand. The nurse carefully poured a cup of water and offered it to Izumi. The girl took the glass with a grateful look, gulping down as the water quenched her throat.

Once the glass was empty, Izumi heaved a sigh of relief, before offering the nurse a cursory glance. "Thank you."

Instead of offering a smile or responding, the nurse looked uneasy. There was a pity, an apprehensive look on the adult's face. "Are you feeling a little better now?" The nurse asked in a soft tone.

Before Izuku could answer, wanting to ask the whereabouts of her mother more than anything else. The door to the room clicked open-

A tall man with neatly parted gray hair stepping inside, his face lined with wrinkles, a sure sign that he was one of the older members on staff. His dark green eyes immediately swerved to meet Izumi's and she watched his lips set into a thin line.

Izumi quickly found that she hated that look, it gave her a creeping sense of dread settling in her gut.

"How is she doing?" The old man asked.

Before any of the nurses could respond Izumi plucked up whatever fleeting courage she had left in her and asked the question weighing heavily on her fragile mind, "w-where's...m-my mom…?

Silence filled the room. It left Izumi suddenly feeling suffocated to some extent, looking from face to face, for any sign that might instill her with hope. There was none.

It was one of the nurses, the same one who'd asked how she was feeling earlier, who decided to try and answer her question. A small part of Izumi wished she hadn't. She was very much preferring ignorance over the grim, harsh truth she got. "I'm...terribly sorry, but your mother is…" The rest of her words drifted in one ear and out the other, Izumi's mind coming to a screeching halt.

Izumi's body began to tremble. She gasped for air as her mind was assaulted with all these thoughts.

"She's hyperventilating!" one of the nurses cried in panic.

Izumi let out a pained filled scream, trying to shake the memories slowly caging her away, but the nurses stepped in; two restraining her arms, while the doctor rushed in with a syringe in his hand. Izumi could barely feel the sharp pain that pierced her forearm before darkness swallowed her whole once more.

* * *

When Keigo Takami, a hero student with the alias 'Hawks', agreed to come and hang out with his coworker/friend Rumi, a fellow hero student alias 'Mirko', he certainly had not expected the night to end with him sitting in an emergency room.

He barely heard the small, stifled whimpers of pain over the harsh wind roaring all around him before he had stepped closer to a dumpster in a back alley. To his horror, he found a small girl with freshly splattered blood dotting on her clothes, her hair covered with the same red blood. She laid near the dumpster, unconscious from the looks of it, and was barely alive. It was unnerving, to say the least, but he was mentally prepared for something like this.

Steering his resolve, he shouted for Rumi to call for help immediately. She, of course, went into a little panic mode the moment her eyes landed on the smaller girl curled up into a ball on the floor, but quickly calmed down and called an ambulance.

Keigo let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, before running his fingers through his hair in anxiety. His feet kept tapping, giving him something to concentrate on and pushed his worry about the little girl away. He was not prepared for something like this, especially on the off-duty. Still, as an aspiring Hero, his instinct quickly kicked in as soon as he saw the first speck of blood on the smaller child's body.

There were no adults nearby looking for their child from the looks of things, not even any indication of the possible villain or assailants that might have attacked her. What else could have left a mere child in that state? Perhaps the most worrisome of all, however, there was no clear indication where this child could have come from.

Keigo pushed the thoughts aside. There was nothing he could do at the moment. His heart clenched thinking back to those oval-shaped green eyes that pierced his soul. A sinking feeling settled in his stomach, a dread that only shook his heart further upon hearing a rise of panicked voices coming in and out of the patient's room that the girl was resting in.

He knew he would be staying here for the night.

* * *

**_Review._**

_I don't know if I'll end up doing romance for this or not really but, feel free to leave a comment if there is someone you might wanna see eventually wind up with Izumi. _


	2. From Blood-Soaked Origins Pt2

_**Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia.(Obviously.)**_

**_warning(s):_**_ AU. Genderbent Izuku. Mentions of violence/blood/possible gore.(they are fighting villains after all). Swearing._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

**_From Blood-soaked Origins Pt.2_**

* * *

Izumi was plagued with more nightmares. She dreamt of a sea of red, the roaring flames, and the blood-soaked carpet. There were a few passing moments where she would hear the choked, gurgled cry of her mother; calling her name as she was fighting a losing battle for their life. No matter how far she ran, little Izumi would always wind up back in that tiny wardrobe, clutching her beloved All Might blankie and sobbing as the world burned away.

But one time, something went differently. The door was thrown open while she was still in the middle of counting. A figure obscured by the roaring flames and black smoke towering over her like a predator about to pounce on its prey. Fear settled in her gut, dragging her heart to her feet. A hand reached for her and all she could think of was her own impending doom.

_**Would it hurt? **_

_**Was she about to be tortured?**_

_**Why had no hero come to save her yet**_?

_**Why did no one care**_?

Like many times before, she shot awake with cold sweat while gasping for air. Her head whipped left and right, looking for anything that could give her a sense of comfort; that she was still alive. Much to her surprise, she found one. Her wide green eyes locking with the tattered, severely charred remnants of her beloved blanket. She could barely make out the large, emboldened letters that spelled out M-I-G-H-T along its side.

"Oh, uh…"

Izumi froze. The greenette's widened eyes slowly drifted a little further up from her blanket and soon realized that it was resting on someone's lap. Her forest-green eyes met the stranger's golden orbs.

"I was not expecting you to wake up so, umm, dramatically," the stranger finally said after a moment.

Izumi could only look on with fear as minutes seemed to turn into hours while she observed the new face, thinking the worst of him and hastily presumed that he was in league with the ones responsible for burning down her house. The greenette spared a quick glance at the one defining element of this stranger, the large cluster of crimson feathers in the shape of wings.

'_Wings_…?' Her high-strung mind thought. A flicker of memory filtered through her mind, an image of her watching the debut of a new hero.

"_Did you see that!?" _

_Izumi sat in front of the living room TV, awestruck. The news was on, and while normally Izumi would scamper off into her bedroom, the first few minutes of airing a breaking news report depicted a severe car crash that happened on one of the more crowded highways of japan caught her attention. It showed a winged figure swooping down onto the horrid looking car pile-up, slicing apart huge chunks of metal and carrying away the drivers with ease._

"_Was that a bird?!" One of the nearby citizens exclaimed._

_The image was constantly shaking, likely having been filmed off of someone's phone in the great scramble to get away from the volatile automobiles._

"_Hey, what hero is that!?" Another asked, curiosity coloring their words._

"My name is Hawks." Izumi wasn't even aware she had been zoning out before being snapped back from her small trip down the memory lane at the sound of his voice. Normally this would be the point in the conversation where she would try to get his autograph, but today… After everything that had happened, she really didn't feel in the mood.

"I'm the one who found you." He went on to say, a bit more slowly. He sounded more cautious, like he was afraid the little girl might break somehow.

"If… it's alright… I'd like to ask you some questions?" Izumi didn't answer. She was aware by the tentative way he tilted his head that he was testing the waters, so to speak.

"Your name, it's Izumi, right?" He prodded, starting with a more gentle tone. The more analytical part of Izumi's mind reasoned that he must not have a lot of experience dealing with younger kids from how forced the wording was.

She nodded slowly. Her hands trembled while gripping the hospital blanket so hard that her knuckles were turning white.

"About your house, well… before the attack did anything seem out of the ordinary? Were there any suspicious individuals who might've-"

"No." Izumi cut in, both her tone and expression blank. "It was just me and my mom. My dad works overseas. I had just gone to bed when…" Her eyes were distant. Fresh tears were already spilling over her cheeks.

Hawks gave a small grimace, having already gotten into contact with his hero internship — Gang Orca's Agency — to let them know what has transpired.

Filling in the blanks after Rumi's report, Gang Orca himself informed Hawks that there were no signs of Villain activity in that particular area to begin with, before going on to say that — given it was his interns who found the girl — he, along with a few other selected heroes and sidekicks, were heading over to check on the presumed residence of the girl, after having received a suspiciously well-timed report of a wildfire in the area.

"_The mother was most likely taken out first by whoever did this. Given the condition Miruko said you found the girl in, it's a miracle she survived._" He remembered his teacher remarking with sorrow. "_Though I'm sure that she's under a great deal of emotional distress, there are things that only she can shed some light on regarding this attack. Interrogation and investigation is also a job we Heroes must do, however unpleasant it may be_."

Hawks knew nothing about this girl other than the dumpster where he found her was no place to fall asleep. He really didn't want to think of what she might have endured, seen, or even heard _before _somehow making it outside. There had been so much blood on her.

"W-where's my mom?"

Hawks stilled. He thought it was silent before, but somehow the atmosphere suddenly felt more heavy with that one question. The girl's wide, watery eyes focused solely on him. Pleading for him to say something — _anything _— other than what he was sure both of them already knew.

"She's..." His voice failed him with the words cutting off. He had had plenty of training and should've been able to handle something like this, only...he couldn't.

In the end, he didn't have to.

"She's gone… isn't she?" Was Izumi's heartbroken confession, voice choked with emotions. "They killed her." She dropped her gaze down onto her lap, feeling like the world was coming to an end all around her.

Hawks found his strength again. Moving quickly and acting on pure impulse, he removed the fleece jacket he had been wearing since last night and draped it along the smaller girl's shaking shoulders; figuring that the soft, comfy material might work better than a half-burnt blanket or a cool, sterile hospital linen.

"Hey, it's gonna be okay," Hawks comforted, voice low, and mustered up a small little lopsided grin when she lifted her tear-filled eyes back up. "I'm here. I'm right here. No one's gonna hurt you anymore."

She latched onto him after he said that, breaking the dam and letting out a loud gut-wrenching sob of grief. Hawks let her cry, not really caring if the overflowing tears left stains on his shirt or how he'd probably be washing off her snot afterwards. After all, it's what heroes do.

~/~

_Dead_.

That's what he'd been informed for about an hour ago and ever since he'd been on a rampage. If there were any loose ends needing to be tied up or if ones were in need of punishment, he insisted on being the one to go; _anything_ to alleviate some of the festering _pain_.

No one dared to try and stop him, well except for perhaps his so-called 'doctor' — though mad scientist was a much better term — attempting to dissuade some of the hot, unfathomable _**rage **_that grew and grew with each passing second under his skin; becoming more untameable the longer his eyes lingered on the now crumpled up picture he had so vehemently tossed to the floor. The photo captured an image of a woman with soft, delicate features and a slender body, not drenched in crimson blood and looking so horribly butchered and burned. He couldn't dare himself to look at it for even a second longer.

"_What about my daughter? Where is she!?" _Were the first words to leave his lips, glowering at the few individuals who dared to be in his presence at the moment. His patience was nearly vaporized when they only winced, heads bowed with a look of shame.

"_**Where**_. _**Is**_. _**She**_?"

There were no words to describe the fear that had settled over each and every one of his underlings as he carefully and very slowly held their gaze, one at a time. His hand breaking off from the armrest of the chair he sat in. The room seemed to shake from his anger.

"W-we don't know sir!" One of the newer recruits stepped forward. "I-it's possible we arrived too late, a-and that she was...taken."

_SNAP!_

Three out of the remaining five flinched back, one let out a whimper, while the last one just sighed, as they all watched the now severed head of the new recruit roll aimlessly on the ground before them. A bald man stepped out from the shadow and cleared his throat before speaking in something close to exasperation.

"Oh come now, that one actually showed promise. Well, no matter… I'm sure I can still find the use for the body." He commented, giving the remain a cursory glance.

"Perhaps if he were more competent in securing my one and only child…" The leader said, ice in every word. "As for the rest of you."

The remaining three all tensed at once.

"Find my daughter, or suffer the same fate. You're dismissed."

They scattered like leaves in the wind.

The last person in the room, lingering a little further back and covered by an eerie black fog around their face, silently knelt down to pick up the crumpled photo, barely able to make out the first name of the victim. '_Inko_, _eh_?' He didn't recognize her, likely she was not from fame or fortune of any kind.

Still, a part of him was curious as to what kind of woman could have possibly won over his boss in such a way.

~/~

Meanwhile back at the hospital where Izumi was, some light was finally shed on their Jane Doe patient in the form of one of the heroes checking the scene identifying the corpse of her mother via their quirk, providing them with the name of Inko Midoriya. They immediately went to work on figuring out the girl's emergency contact in a situation such as this.

"I found it." One of the nurses said, still typing away on a computer. "There's a...Mitsuki Bakugo listed here as her official godmother. Otherwise, there appears to be no living relatives on the mother's side." The nurse went on to say, turning to glance at her co-worker for a moment. "What about the father? Can you get in touch with Mr. Midoriya?"

She hadn't realized the other woman was on the phone, and quickly lowered her voice when she saw the solemn look the other woman was giving her.

"...Yes. Yes, I understand. I am truly sorry for your loss… and you say he was without any living relatives?"

"Kikyo?" The first nurse whispered softly, so as not to interrupt whatever was being said to the older nurse.

"Yes, I understand. Thank you very much, and I'll be sure to let the remaining friends and family know." Kikyo said respectfully before hanging up.

"Kikyo, what happened? What's wrong?" The younger of the two inquired.

"Megumi, the girl, her father is…." Kikyo shook her head for a moment, looking a tad pained. "I'm afraid there was a boating accident early this morning. They say they found..._parts _of the body, and that Hiashi didn't have any living family to turn to for his daughter's care."

"So then…" The younger nurse, Megumi, looked back at the computer screen, fixating on the name of the girl's godmother.

"I will call the godmother. In the meantime, try and see if there's any relative who can care for her. Sometimes the more distant ones aren't included in the files, especially if they aren't the godparents or such," Kikyo taught the younger nurse while already picking the phone back up.

"Right. I'll-I'll start with the father, then if I can't find anything I'll look into the mother's side." Megumi said aloud.

"Also, just in case you aren't able to find anything," Kikyo said, shifting her eyes around in a visible show of hesitance. "Be sure to contact social services to let them know."

"Right." Megumi said. A part of her truly felt sorry for the little girl now identified as Izumi Midoriya.

~/~

"Katsuki! Come eat your breakfast!" Mitsuki hollered up the stairs, already hearing her son yelling out a few cusses while he brushed his teeth. A tick mark formed on her brow, wondering for what seemed like the hundredth time that week where the heck had her son learned such foul language.

Surely, it wasn't _her_!

"Stop screaming at yourself and get down here, you brat!" She yelled again, half-tempted to stomp her way up there and send him flying down the stairs.

"Don't yell at me, you old hag!" Katsuki shouted back. Within seconds, the two dissolved into their usual morning screaming match.

Back at the kitchen table, Mistuki's husband, Masaru, was reading over the morning paper while quietly sipping his coffee. A nervous peal of laughter came from his lips as his son finally came stomping downstairs before receiving a slap to the back of his head for calling his mother a hag once again. He never quite understood where the two of them got such energy from.

"Honestly, I slave over a hot stove for you and this is the thanks I get? Little brat!" Mitsuki cursed, taking her seat at the table along with her son.

"It's your fault, hag! Yelling like a banshee, then hitting me!" Katsuki fired back, meeting his mother's own heated gaze with a vicious snarl.

"Say that again, you damn little ingrate!" By now, the mother and son were almost pressing their foreheads together with sparks flying around them. Neither even noticed when the kitchen phone started to ring. Masaru let out a weary sigh before moving to answer it.

"Hello, Bakugo residence. Who may I ask is calling?" He asked politely.

A few moments passed, in which Mitsuki and Katsuki continued throwing verbal jabs at each other — with Masaru continuing to tune them out. Finally, he spoke, raising his voice a bit to be heard over the other two. "Mitsuki, there's a phone call for you. Said they're the Sei-an hospital."

"What? The old hag doesn't know anyone from that fancy place." Katsuki was quick to throw in his two cents, and received another swift clout to the back of his head before Mitsuki went over and took the phone.

"Hello, this is Mitsuki Bakugo speaking," she said, a bit confused as to who and why she would be getting a call from uptown to begin with. The seconds ticked by, with her son and husband watching curiously. They were soon stunned upon seeing the slow, widening of their matriarch's eyes, followed by Mitsuki's emotion choked words.

"_Oh my god_!" The blonde didn't bother putting the phone back against the wall, as she made a beeline for the front door while trying to hold back her sobs; barely remembering to grab her purse and shoes.

"M-Mistuki, what is it? What's wrong!" Her husband cried out after her.

"Hey old hag, where are you going!?" Katsuki yelled, even more confused than a few seconds ago.

It was at that moment the news came on with a special breaking bulletin; Mitsuki having turned the TV on to catch her favorite morning show before heading off to work. The father and son glanced towards the screen and barely caught the end of the newscaster's words.

"-_Heroes on the scene have identified the body as that of local resident, Inko Midoriya. No one knows who the assailants were or why they broke in. Local residents are urged to call in immediately if they have any leads. Furthermore-_"

Katsuki and Masaru zoned out the rest of what was being said, as the latter was taking off after his wife while the younger one stood stunned in the living room. His crimson eyes locked on the smiling photo of Inko Midoriya being flashed across the screen accompanied by the words '_found dead' _and '_villain attack_' and Izumi… Oh god! Where was Izumi in all this?! Katsuki thought. His fists clenched as he thought back to all those times on the playground where she tried to tag along only for him to shoot her down in an instant.

Katsuki heard the roaring of the car engine from out in the driveway, followed by his parents yelling. He didn't need to ask where they were heading.

Somewhere underneath the cold feeling that settled in his gut, Katsuki thought the worst. '_You better not be dead, lousy deku_! _You better not be_!' He thought furiously as he rubbed at his eyes harshly, feeling the unfamiliar sting of tears welling up behind them. '_Figures that crybaby's habits would rub off on me_.' He thought, frustrated and struggling with a sense of guilt.

For all his talk about becoming a hero like All Might; for all the times he had admonished Izumi for being a lousy deku; someone close to him had been lost, and he was left feeling powerless to stop the grief that settled over him and his family as a result.

~/~

"I found it!" Megumi said, sounding strangely proud of herself. After already putting the call into social services like Kikyo told her, the younger nurse then proceeded to do some digging into each parents' background as ordered. Just when she thought there was no hope for the little girl, a single name popped up, made even more prominent by the emboldened 'ALIVE' status next to the text.

"What? You found a relative then?" Kikyo asked, immediately coming over after getting off the phone with the godmother.

"There was no luck on the father's side, but on the mother's, well… take a look," Megumi said, turning the screen towards her superior. "I double-checked it and everything."

Kikyo blinked owlish eyes at the screen, her brows furrowing together as she looked over everything for any sign of error. "This is...complicated." Megumi looked confused at the older woman's choice of word, not understanding exactly whose name she'd brought up.

"Why? Isn't this a good thing?' Megumi prodded, curious. "Now Social services won't be able to-"

"Megumi. Do you not know exactly _who _this is?" Kikyo cut in, lips set into a thin line.

"Yes, of course. As I said I double-checked everything. Shinya Kamihara is Inko Midoriya's only living relative," Megumi repeated, watching as Kikyo moved off the older nurse opened one of the more classified drawers, only meant for the higher-ups to which she was one, and pulled out a single vanilla folder.

"Well, as I'm sure you knew, each hospital is given certain access to a hero's identity, provided that they are a current patient of said district and such…" Kikyo trailed off, opening the folder and leafing through some of the papers. "So that we can be better suited to any potential family history dealing with disease, Quirks, or underlying conditions."

"Yes, Dr. Hugo has mentioned it several times. Though… How is this relevant?" Megumi inquired, starting to wonder if, perhaps, she had done something she shouldn't have.

"The person who you just matched as a positive for being Izumi's only living relative…" Kikyo went on to say, pulling out a photo for a patients spreadsheet and laying it down onto the desk, "is Shinya Kamihara aka, _the _number seven hero, Edgeshot."

* * *

_**Reviews are appreciated**_!

_Also, bit of a side note,__ if I do decide to include romance I prefer to use a lesser used pairing, so that means __I'll probably be trying to avoid having her wind up with Bakugo or Shouto-no offense!-as there is just waay too fics out there focusing on those three. For now though, I would like to focus more on plot! :3_

_Also, don't forget to review!_

**Beta'd by sarin555**


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